Information on UCSB Orientation 2018

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Santa Barbara
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Hey all, I just got back from Orientation at UCSB. There is actually a wonderful thread by @Anberlin that gives great information, and you can find that here: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-santa-barbara/1176209-ucsb-orientation-what-goes-down.html.

I just wanted to give a little bit of an updated view of everything, because I do realize this post was made in 2011, and a tiny bit has changed.

So here’s the layout of everything really simply:

Day 1:
Everyone shows up around 7, 7:30ish in the morning. You line up, get a little name tag with your name and city of residence, and also a bracelet -fancy stuff. You also get a paper detailing everything that’s going to happen the next couple of days. You ALSO get your room key. After throwing your stuff into your room, you can participate in a tour that they provide. I went to the UCen tour, and it was pretty nice, as tours are. Afterwards, they have a Welcome Walk, and a little presentation to go along with it. (By the way! If you are early, GO AND GET YOUR ACCESS CARD ASAP. I did this, and was not disappointed. The line becomes huge if you wait! Don’t worry if you don’t get it during Orientation. Literally, you can just get it when you come in the Fall. But if it means that much more to you to have an Access Card, being early is going to help. In terms of prior planning, you will start out at Manzanita Village for check in, and Access Cards will be done at the UCen.)

After that, you go to your first of three Academic Advising sessions. Everyone gets an adviser, and you will get their name on another paper that you will also be given. During the Welcome Presentation you will be literally dismissed by adviser, so it’s nothing too huge to worry about.

After that? You get to eat Lunch at the Dining Commons. After lunch there are a whole bunch of tours and meetings to choose from, and you can choose anyone that you want to do, unless if you are in the College of Engineering and with that you go to this specified tour where you get to go to your respective department (major) adviser or representative, and see classes and labs and stuff like that. You also get told about the unit requirements for your major and how to take care of all of that. So all is well.

After that, you get your second Academic Advising, where you learn about registering for fall courses. Speaking of registering, I will get back to that later. After that advising session, you go to get dinner at the dining commons. When that is done, there is a presentation about the campus, and then there is like a question and answers session, where you can text in your question’s anonymously and have them answered by some people on stage. It’s all pretty nice :smiley:

Afterwards, there is the Student Evening Social. Basically free time? You don’t have to necessarily go to it if you don’t want to, but I’d say that you should go just because it’s a nice way to spend time with everyone else and also enjoy all the little activities that have been set up. There is stuff like Super Smash Bros gaming competitions, or a Trivia game, and stuff like that. I didn’t stay the whole time, and instead went with a couple of friends to explore the campus at night, which you CAN do. Some people went to the beach and just chilled, and other’s went to their dorms to get some early sleep. Whatever it is? You have no further obligations till the next morning.

A little side note on that, again, you are free to go about the campus and pretty much anywhere. Do be advised though, that some of the staff will be patrolling certain areas, especially IV, and it’s not because you’re not allowed to be there, it’s because they want to make sure you aren’t doing anything illegal (drinking, making huge disturbances) and stuff like that. Also, just cause this was used as an example, do NOT light a bonfire on the beach. That was on the list of illegal activities. Apart from that? The campus is yours!

Day 2:
You wake up and go get some breakfast. After that, you can go to do some Student Life workshops. That’s pretty much presentations from different groups on campus, like the Recreation Center, or UCSB radio, and really it’s all laid out for you so don’t worry too much about planning which one you’re going to go to, but whichever one it is, I’m sure you will have a great time nonetheless.
After that, each specific college (Letters and Sciences, Engineering, Creative Studies) goes to a place on campus and basically just learns more about their specific college. For me, the College of Engineering went to a room and basically had two upper level students sit with us and have a question and answer session. Was really nice, because we got to get that perspective from actual current students.
After all that we went back and did some Co-Curricular Workshops. Basically more presentations on different programs and opportunities around campus.
After that you get lunch! Which is awesome like always. Following that, you go to your final advising session, and that my friends, is where you choose your classes. I will tell you more about that later. Basically you go and learn about the whole process, review certain things, get even more familiarized with GOLD and there you go. Kind of :smiley:
Pretty much after that? There was some financial aid thing happening, basically a little question and answer session for you as a student to go and get information on financial aid. And then after that? You’re all done! You get to leave really once you get a print out of your schedule from your respective adviser? You’re good to go.

********** PART ONE ******************

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Was a bit too long, here’s PART TWO

So, now some information on choosing classes. That’s pretty much a huge reason of going to Orientation apart from meeting new people and learning about the campus. If you are like me, you probably will try getting a schedule ready and such, and that’s awesome! But, some key points to remember:

  • Classes fill up VERY fast. When you’re in there choosing your classes? Choose them in the order of how impacted they are. If you need to take Chemistry? Choose that first, cause I kid you not classes were switching to Full right as people clicked on them.
  • Early morning classes and very late evenings aren’t wanted. If you’re into that? You’re in luck. I wanted morning classes and it wasn’t too bad for me to get them. But if you want that easy breezy 12pm class? You’re going to have to be fast. Again, order the classes you plan on choosing in the order of how impacted they are/how specific of a class time it is that you want.
  • In college, you have lectures AND sections. Plan for both accordingly. They aren’t two separate things. You don’t add lectures, they are just there and you can’t choose the times that they happen. The sections are the shorter classes where you can choose. How you will add a class, like Math for example, is by going down to the math SECTION that you want, then adding it to your schedule. You’ll automatically be added to the lecture that corresponds with that section. You’ll know which one corresponds with it, because the section will be under a lecture. You’ll know a lecture is a lecture, because you won’t be able to add it xD Hopefully all this makes sense, but you can get it better by going to GOLD and seeing what I mean.
  • In terms of actually scheduling the classes? Everyone does it at 2:15. That’s when it opens. No, you can’t use your own computer, and no you can’t use your phone. Actually, they get put in a box before each advising session so, you are going to have to deal with the track pads. Don’t stress out though because…
  • after getting a schedule, you will get it confirmed with a college adviser. If there is a class that you NEED and you didn’t get, they will add that for you in a jiffy. Basically every Computer Science major at my session had to go and get the actual Computer Science class added because it wouldn’t let them do so. In that case (as your adviser will tell you) just add in a random class. Literally a random one. And your college adviser will switch it for you, easy peasy. If a class you really wanted is full? You can put yourself on the wait list of that class. If there’s a GE (they will tell you which ones are GE’s or you can search on the UCSB website for your major and you’ll see acceptable ones) that you really want and couldn’t get because it either became full, or just wasn’t letting you add it for some arbitrary reason, maybe and I’m saying MAYBE you will be able to get your college adviser to switch another one of your classes for that GE. If not? They’ll tell you about taking it another quarter and stuff like that. Also don’t worry because…
  • Classes are just for a quarter. It’s not like high school where if you get a class you don’t want that you’re pretty much stuck with it for an eternity. It’s for a quarter. I currently have a class on my schedule that I’m just meh about, but it gets me the units I need, and especially as a freshman, that’s all you need to worry about right now. Everyone else at UCSB got to choose their classes during the Spring, so they have priority as WE will come to have one day :smiley:
  • For college of engineering students, you will get a GEAR, and for college of letters and sciences you will get a LASAR. I don’t know really what college of creative studies, but i’m sure you get something similar. Basically what those are, are pamphlets that give you something called a “grid”. Basically classes that you should take every quarter at UCSB if you want to graduate with the right amount of units and on time. BE AWARE that the unit requirement of like 180 or 184, assumes that you have absolutely ZERO credit from AP tests, or IB or stuff like that. If you have college credit? Don’t worry, it’s there. Maybe not fully processed yet? But during the school year I know that you can go and talk to an adviser and they’ll have it all loaded up and ready so you can see. Especially for college of engineering students the 16/17 units a quarter prescribed by the grid can seem hefty. Even if your grid says that you need to take certain classes, you can switch our a GE for a class like a Discovery Class or an Exercise sport, without much fear. If you truly are stressed about doing that and worried about messing yourself up in the long run? (as I was) Basically I was told to wait for the Fall, and that I can talk to my adviser about it.

Now that’s enough about classes, but I can answer questions from what I learned if anyone has any.

In terms of general tips? I’d say:

  • Don't be shy to meet new people. I know it can be really intimidating, but in different activities you do -like the Academic Advising or other stuff like that, there are opportunities to meet others through ice breakers. Take full advantage of them and talk to some people. Exchange contacts, and become friends as close as people can be after knowing each other for a couple hours.
  • You will walk a whole lot. It will most likely be a bit hot. Be sure to have water/bring sun screen/ do what you need to do
  • Explore the campus! At least for me, I loved doing that.
  • Manzanita Bathrooms are awesome. As in, they are private and you can literally be in there doing your thing. Make sure you bring your toiletries!
  • You don't need a blanket/pillow/sheet cover cause they provide those. You can bring your own if you totally want to but, why carry more stuff?

I think that’s it? All in all, it was an awesome experience and I am hyped to go in the Fall. If you have any questions I will do my best to answer what I can, or refer you to resources that I learned about and such. Thanks for reading everything!